Wolfgrove Academy

Chapter 6

Steele runs his large hand over the stubble of his chin before passing his fingers over his lips, watching her every movement. Sitting this far away, even if he wished he could sit right beside her, from his vantage point he can see everything. He is picking up a lot more than Griffin can.

"What did Principal Saunders say?"

Steele was there that day. His parents may not have come like the others, but he was just as powerless to stop what happened. He thinks about what happened every single day. Every single day he looks in the mirror and sees that scar, a reminder of what he did and what he wouldn't hesitate to do again. When he sits in this place and sees her smiling face, it is just a reminder that he should have fought harder. He should have said more, he should never have left that room.

He heard what happened in the room, he heard everything that was said, he didn’t think it would be possible to chase down Wren until he left this place. That was going to be the first thing he did when he left. He wanted to make sure that she was living well and only then could he move on and live his life, everything resting on the quality of her life just as it always has.

There was nothing back then that made him believe that Wren would be allowed back in, even the fallout after, nothing that Wren would have been privy to, but Steele made sure he knew every word that was said. He wanted every scrap of information, any hope of a secret, a loop-hole to get her back into Wolfgrove, back into his protection.

"She just said that I am walking a thin line and I need to watch myself, one foot wrong and I will be expelled"

Zero looks at Steele without moving his head.

"What does that mean?"

Steele grimaces, it is so open to interpretation, but it just means that they are looking for a reason to kick her out and when someone is looking for a reason, it is very likely that a million will pop up.

"You know what it means"

Wren stops Zero with a hand on his thigh, her other hand still held tightly by Griffin. She can feel him pulling back slightly, she can feel the tension return to Griffin's body.

"It means that what happened before can never happen again"

Zero finally sits up, careful not to disturb Wren’s head on his shoulder.

"They cannot possibly still blame you for an attack on the entire school?"

Wren looks up at the canvas, it was a different time then.

"It was that and so much more"

*Four years earlier*

Wren stands in Principal Saunders office. It has been days but she still hasn’t washed the blood off. She wants to wash but all she can do is pick the dry bits of blood off her skin. It is therapeutic in a room where it is impossible to feel calm. It isn’t even hers and that fact just adds to her guilt.

Her azure eyes catch the woman that is closest to her just quickly before looking back down at the floor. The womans maroon hair is almost as fiery as the bright red of her angry face. Wren is not even sure where the woman's anger is directed more toward her or the Principal.

Wren feels a warm hand wrap around hers, it is in sharp contrast to the cold that surrounds her, she glances up into a pair of slate gray eyes, it gives her that bit of calm she has been seeking. She watches as Steele mouths the words.

"It is all going to be fine"

Wren can nearly believe it for a moment, but she can hear Griffin’s voice to the side filled with desperation, which draws her straight back into reality. She struggles to believe that anything is going to be fine again, everyone is looking for someone to blame and somehow she has become that person.

"Mum, I told you that it wasn't Wren’s fault, it was an attack on the whole school. Stop focusing on her"

"I am focusing on her? They were focusing on her. Why did they only go for her?"

"That is not true. Why would they cause so much destruction if they were only after her"

The whole group feels like it has missed something big, no one wants to explain anything, all they want to do is throw around accusations and most of them are firmly aimed at Wren. There has been very little questioning. The four of them were there, yet the adults are acting like they have all the answers.

"Stop it Griffin, how dare you argue? I told you what type to stay away from when you were here and who did you go straight toward. Was this your act of rebellion? Now, not only that, but you are defending her"

Griffin swallows, even after all these years away, it isn't easier to face his mother. In the face of the angry alpha-female, he can only become the scared little boy that didn't have anyone. He tries to swallow it all down, he straightens his back and looks his mother in the eyes.

"I told you that Wren is my friend"

"And I told you to be quiet Griffin. How could you not tell me that you are friends with someone like her?"

The way Griffin’s mother, Freya, spits 'friends' makes Wren's hand shake slightly and Steele's thumb rubs a calming circle on the skin between her thumb and index finger. Wren never considered her friendship such a burden on anyone, but the way Freya is acting, there isn’t a worse curse than being her friend. She really doesn't even know where she went so wrong, she has no idea what she has done to deserve this.

"Like her mum? You say it like you know her, but you don't. You don’t even know her"

Griffin's frustration is finally allowing the aggression to come through in his voice. Freya doesn’t want to listen to her son's defense of the girl at all, she fixes her emerald eyes onto Evelyn Saunders.

"How could you not inform the parents that there is someone like…."

Freya motions to Wren with large aggressive movements and it takes everything for Wren not to flinch back and maybe she would if it wasn’t for Steele’s hand wrapped around hers. She is still jumpy, the near death experience is still fresh in her mind. The look of disgust is evident on the middle-aged woman's face. Wren is tempted to lift her hand and touch her face. She is sure there must be something vile stuck there. Of course she doesn't do it, keeping her hand at her side, picking at a small rip on her skirt, the frayed tartan material giving her something to do instead of speaking her mind.

"...this in the academy? If I had known, I would have pulled Griffin out"

Evelyn sits at the desk, her fingers interlaced on the desk top.

"Alpha Freya, I thought we were here to talk about the attack, not to single out one student"

"I have spent time away from my pack looking for four children that were just hiding out. Maybe that was exactly where she wanted them"

Wren swallows sharply, they were just hiding from the attack, they were just trying to be in safety but it is like she lured them, the way Freya is talking is like she is some sort of predator. She has no idea what she did wrong. Wasn’t she the victim? Why are they acting like she staged all this? Zero steps forward and just before he lays a hand on Wren, he is promptly pulled back by his own parents. His movement was thwarted but his voice is still crisp and clear in the small space.

"It was nothing like that, she was attacked, the whole school was attacked. Why aren’t we searching for who did it? Wren had nothing to do with it, she was nearly killed"

"We saw the security vision Zero, they were clearly out for her and instead of doing what you should have done and handing her over…"

Zero steps back from his parents with his hand over his chest like he was physically wounded.

"How can you even say that?"

Zero always had a high opinion of his parents, but that was shattered with one single sentence.

"You could have been hurt. Look at Steele’s face. What if that happened to you?"

"You know what mum? If I got it protecting her life I would happily have my whole face slashed to pieces"

Freya is boiling with anger as she points a finger at Wren’s face.

"Look at what you have done"

Wren dares to look into the angry woman’s eyes as Freya’s eyes flicker to black. She is sure that she is about to be torn to pieces. Her voice is a lot bolder than she feels.

"I didn’t do anything. I am really sorry about Steele’s face. I never meant for anyone to get hurt"

"You are just lucky that his parents don’t care enough to be here"

Wren swallows and suddenly she feels fearless.

"Shut up, you can talk bad about me but not them, not any of them. You have no right"

Freya moves so close to Wren that Wren falters for a second, she feels death closing in once more. Her breathing gets a little raspy, but at least the woman's attention is once again on her.

"Don’t you dare speak to me like that, I know your type you little harlot"

Evelyn has no idea how to diffuse the situation at all. It was obvious by the vision that they were coming for Wren. They didn’t touch anyone else, just causing random destruction but clearly hunting one, but she is more logical than the others, knowing Wren well enough to know that the Wren wouldn’t have done anything to provoke such an attack.

Wren is always softly spoken with a quick mind, she knows exactly how to deal with everyone, so it surprised Evelyn that Wren would say something like that to Freya. She knows that those three boys are Wren’s soft spot. In all her years of teaching she has never seen a group so close, but this group has been close since their very first year.

"Maybe it is better if the three of you step out. Just wait outside, I will see you when we finish up here"

Three boys stand tall together.

"We don’t want to leave"

Their voices are synchronized, three boys with completely different backgrounds speak as one.

"I wasn’t asking, I was telling you"

Wren looks at the floor once again.

"I will be fine"

Wren wants to tell them that she needs them but she feels guilt, she didn’t want them to get in trouble, she didn’t want Steele to get hurt, she didn’t want any of this, no matter how hard she thinks about it, she cannot understand the events of the last few days.

Steele gives Wren’s hand one last squeeze before the three boys are ushered out and, suddenly, Wren is so very alone in this, she feels very far from fine. She feels the cold closing in on her and it feels the way it did days ago when she had the sharp blade pressed against her throat. It only left the smallest wound on her. If it wasn’t for Steele and his protection, his own sacrifice, she wouldn’t even be standing here right now living her worst nightmare.

It was so close she felt it as she looked into the amber eyes of the masked man, as she looked straight into the eyes of death.